Security is an important requirement in many document printing applications. In situations such as official or government document printing, event ticket printing, financial instrument printing and the like, many printed documents must be protected against copying, forging and/or counterfeiting.
A potential consequence of creating unsecure documents is the undesired dissemination of confidential information. A watermark is a type of security element that can be applied to various documents to help secure the document. Watermarks can help provide for the authentication or tracking of documents.
In some situations, a person who accesses or prints a document affirmatively requests that document be secured with a security mark. This may be considered as “voluntary” marking. In other situations, an entity that controls the document will require that each copy of the document include a security mark, regardless of whether the user requests the marking. This may be referred to as “involuntary” marking.
The involuntary marking scenario can lead to several issues. For example, a malicious user may attempt to suppress the security mark during the printing process. Or, a person may try to reproduce a secure printed document with a secondary print that omits some or all of the marking.
This document describes methods and systems for creating and using a document with a security mark that addresses at least some of the problems described above, and/or other problems.